Transparency data

Centres for Excellence in Maths Programme funding conditions

Updated 7 October 2022

The Centres for Excellence in Maths (CfEM) programme provides funding to 21 institutions in England, with the aim of improving maths teaching for students aged 16 to 19 studying towards GCSE or functional skills in the further education sector.

It aims to do this by:

• trialling new teaching approaches
• building teachers’ skills
• sharing best practice across maths networks

The programme is managed by the Education & Training Foundation (ETF), working with delivery partners:

• University of Nottingham
• Association of Colleges
• Pearson
• Touchconsulting Limited

The programme will be independently evaluated by ICF Consulting.

Grant funding

These are the conditions under which the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) will pay eligible CfEM grant funding relating to activities in financial year 5 (1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023), also known as the funding period.

Activities eligible for grant funding include:

• action research
• whole college approach change management
• networking
• continuing professional development (CPD) activity
• teaching and learning resource development
• leading and participating in the national randomised controlled trials

All grant funding under the programme is subject to the following conditions:

1. Centres may use the grant funding only for expenditure related to the programme and may not use any part of it to support (directly or indirectly) other areas of a centre’s activity.
2. Centres may use the grant funding only for expenditure incurred in respect of activities taking place within the funding period. Funding must not be used for activities that take place after 31 March 2023. This condition does not apply to grant funding related to the cost of providing an assurance statement, also known as Annex G, to validate centre expenditure.

Payment will be refused and any payments made will be reclaimed as a debt if these conditions are not met.

No part of the grant funding may be used for any of the activities or purposes specified as prohibited spending.

The maximum amount of grant which may be claimed by each centre for their action plans is limited to the amount of the instalment specified for each activity type in table 1, and to an overall limit of £285,000.

Grants will only be paid in respect of expenditure incurred by the centre claiming the grant, which is directly related to the provision of activities by the particular centre, and are subject to ETF and the Department for Education (DfE) approving action plans.

Payment will be made in instalments according to the schedule of payments set out in table 1.

All grant funding is paid in arrears after the expenditure has been incurred. Payment may be withheld or suspended in the event of any query about eligibility or errors in the reporting of expenditure on the part of the centre.

Please note that trial funding is subject to specific conditions of payment, details of which are set out separately In table 1.

Table 1: grant funding payment schedule for CfEM programme

Department payment date	Amount
On or before 20 July 2022	Up to £57,096 has previously been agreed by ETF and DfE
On or before 20 November 2022	Up to £137,094 subject to approval of action plans by ETF and DfE
On or before 20 March 2023	Up to £91,397 subject to approval of action plans by ETF and DfE

For payments payable on or before 20 July 2022, the exact amount was confirmed by DfE in emails to each centre dated 15 July 2022.

Eligible expenditure may include irrecoverable VAT. However, no grant funding more than the maximum agreed payment amount will be provided in relation to any VAT.

Further details regarding eligible expenditure are provided.

Randomised controlled trial

In addition to the funding set out in table 1, varying amounts of additional trial funding will be offered to selected centres and their partners (such as colleges and schools in a centre’s network) taking part in the national randomised controlled trials.

This took place in the 2021 to 2022 academic year from 1 August 2021 to 31 July 2022. It is a condition of funding that all the activities of the centres for which trial funding is available take place within the funding period.

The amount of trial funding is calculated by reference to the activity type of the teachers allocated to that centre for the trial – as determined by ETF or delivery partners. The amounts are fixed amounts per teacher in each activity type and are intended to cover administration and data collection as well as remission time, travel and subsistence.

Each centre is responsible for managing its respective allocation of trial funding and for distributing it to participating partners as set out in its respective grant offer letter. Distribution of funding to participating partners must be made in accordance centre’s own policies and procedures to ensure funding will be used for relevant activities or its intended purposes. Any unspent trial funding must be repaid in line with the guidance set out on payment and repayment of funding.

The amount of trial funding payable to each centre is set out in their grant offer letters, based on the fixed amounts set out in table 2 and payable in accordance with the schedule contained in table 3.

Table 2: randomised controlled trial funding allocation for financial year 2022 to 2023

Activity type	Remission time, travel and subsistence	Administration and data collection	Total
Lead teacher	£600	£600	£1200
Control group - single teacher (data collection costs only)	nil	£600	£600
Control group - pair of teachers (data collection costs only)	nil	£600	£600
Partial intervention - single teacher	£300	£600	£900
Partial intervention – pair of teachers	£600	£600	£1200
Full intervention - single teacher	£300	£600	£900
Full intervention – pair of teachers	£600	£600	£1200
Administration of trial funding to partners (£50 per partner)	nil	£50	£50

This table covers the period 1 April 2022 to 31 July 2022.

Payments for all trial activity in the funding period will be paid by ESFA in the instalments below.

Table 3: randomised controlled trial funding payment schedule for CfEM

Department payment date	Amount	Activity type
On or before 20 July 2022	Final payment of trial funding to centres in the financial year 2022 to 2023 (the amount will be confirmed with centres)	Leading or participating in the randomised controlled trials

For payments payable on or before 20 July 2021, the exact amount was confirmed by ESFA in emails to each centre dated 18 July 2022.

For completeness, table 4 shows the fixed amount used to calculate trial funding paid to centres for randomised controlled trial activity between 1 August 2021 and 31 March 2022.

Table 4: randomised controlled trial funding allocation for financial year 2021 to 2022

Activity type	Remission time, travel and subsistence	Administration and data collection	Total
Lead teacher	£4,550	£2,400	£6,950
Control group - single teacher (data collection costs only)	nil	£2,400	£2,400
Control group - pair of teachers (data collection costs only)	nil	£2,400	£2,400
Partial intervention - single teacher	£1,000	£2,400	£3,400
Partial intervention – pair of teachers	£2,000	£2,400	£4,400
Full intervention - single teacher	£3,350	£2,400	£5,750
Full intervention – pair of teachers	£6,700	£2,400	£9,100
Administration of trial funding to partners (£50 per partner)	nil	£50	£50

This table covers the period 1 August 2021 to 31 March 2022.

Grant requirements

Centres are not restricted to a predetermined list of activities, so long as they fall within the scope of the aims of the programme. ETF will provide additional support and guidance in relation to appropriate activities and projects. They will assist with planning throughout.

The centres may, in principle, include proposals for a wide variety of activities and projects that can:

• help improve the quality of maths provision and attainment at the centre
• help improve the quality of maths provision and attainment within their maths networks
• address key improvement needs which the centre reasonably considers would contribute to the principal aims and objectives of the programme

Examples of activities could include:

• a diagnosis of the centre and the maths network’s quality, challenges and development of a programme of work to address these
• professional development activities for teachers, managers, the senior leadership team and governors
• time release for teachers and staff at the centres and maths network to allow them to participate in the programme (in such cases funding may cover temporary replacement of that staff member)
• hiring of additional staff members whose time will be fully dedicated to the programme
• the collation or development and trialling of new maths teaching resources in the centre and subsequent roll-out across the network
• the creation, co-ordination and management of a maths network, or expansion of an existing network
• evaluation of the centre’s programme

Prohibited spending

The following activities cannot be funded through the CfEM programme:

• capital expenditures and spending on the purchase of assets, for example buildings, furniture, fittings – this includes the purchase of information technology that is treated as capital expenditure for accounting purposes

• IT expenditure, such as the purchase of software (this may be permitted if it can be appropriately accounted for as revenue spend, demonstrates good value for money and has been agreed by DfE and the delivery partner in advance)

• restructuring recommended by ESFA
• staff restructuring
• independent business reviews
• any activities that are not related to the provider’s basic maths skills provision
• any activities that the centre would otherwise be able to access free of charge

Further information on activity that will not be funded by the CfEM programme is detailed in the action plan guidance provided by ETF or delivery partners.

Formal grant conditions will be managed and monitored by the department’s conditions of funding agreement for each institution.

Payment and repayment of funding

All payments of grant funding will be made by ESFA to centres in instalments on or after the payment dates detailed in table 1 and table 3.

The grant will become repayable and may be reclaimed as a debt or through a future reduction in funding if:

• the grant funding is not spent in the funding period specified in the table above (or by an alternative date agreed in advance with the department)
• the grant funding is not spent on eligible activities outlined in the approved action plans (or variants thereof agreed with the department, using the process described)
• the centre does not provide its required contribution
• reports on expenditures and outcomes are not submitted

Audit and financial assurance

Accounting officers at the centres will be required to sign an assurance statement, also known as Annex G, accompanied by a final report for each academic funding year to confirm that monies have been used for the purposes intended, and that expenditure complies with the terms and conditions of the grant.

The centre will need to retain evidence of expenditure as this may be requested by the department.

All purchases made in connection with this grant must be in line with the centre procurement policies and procedures.

Centres are expected to account for costs incurred in relation to this grant separately. All expenditure must be accounted for to the same standards, rules and procedures as set out in your current Education and Skills conditions of funding agreement. It must be capable of independent verification and audit.

Evidence relating to expenditure against this grant must be kept separately by the centre. Regular expenditure reporting and forecasts must be provided to ETF or delivery partners.

Monitoring

Over the course of the funding period, the centres will work with the delivery and evaluation partners to monitor their activities in accordance with their relevant action plans and to verify compliance with these grant conditions.

Each centre must provide details to ETF on how it intends to monitor the impact of networking and locally delivered CPD funded by the programme. ETF or delivery partners will provide additional support and guidance in relation to monitoring and evaluation. They will assist centres with planning throughout.

Grant recipients will be expected to work alongside ICF Consulting, the evaluation partner, to ensure that evaluation can be completed correctly and efficiently. The evaluation partner will also conduct research with those involved in the project, to increase our understanding of the impact of the teaching approaches and to identify any lessons learned.

Contact us

Send enquiries to centres.forexcellence@education.gov.uk.